The Digital ACT Studio welcomes Dr. Vaughn Stewart as the new director for the 2017-18 academic year. Stewart comes to the Studio from The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, where he earned his PhD in 2016 and taught for nine years in the English department. His scholarship has primarily focused on early print in England – examining the ways that the first English printers (like William Caxton) made print books marketable as the field transitioned from manuscript. His interest in book history, however, extends to the present; he’s conducted original research on student attitudes to e-books, using digital books he’s created for his own literature courses.

Stewart has also worked with multimodal composition for much of his career. As part of the Carolina Digital Literacy Initiative Pilot program at UNC Chapel Hill, Vaughn’s students made movies, infographics, podcasts and brochures. He especially likes to see how a certain story or set of information can move through multiple media formats, and how each format changes both the presentation and the interpretation.

For the coming year, Stewart said he looks forward to crafting some new workshops, collaborating across the campus, and hosting lots of consultations.

As the new school year starts up, UNCG’s new Staff Senate co‑chairs, Joshua Green and Staton Noel, aim to be a voice for staff across campus, serving as a communication link between staff and campus administration. They will help also keep staff informed about how decisions at the state‑level impact the campus, and why decisions are made.

Additionally, they plan to find unique ways to communicate to the UNCG staff that they are valued in the day-to-day operations of campus and in its long-term success and innovation.

“I’m a big encourager,” said Green. “I like to encourage staff and say, ‘you’re important – important to student success – you have a vital part in that – and that’s why we’re all here.’”

“I’d like staff to feel they can be empowered through working with us,” added Noel.

Citing former Staff Senate co-chair Robert Walker’s work on campus systems, Noel also plans to encourage innovations.

“This is an opportunity for me to work more closely with staff and see what innovations they’re bringing to the campus,” he said.

Aside from those goals, Green and Noel will continue inviting inspiring campus speakers to the Staff Senate meetings, plan Staff Senate-sponsored opportunities for professional development and support the Staff Senate Service Committee’s projects.

Joshua Green, who is coordinator of technology services for UNCG Police, came to UNCG in 2006 after serving in the U.S. Army for five years as a military police officer. He worked for the UNCG University Registrar’s Office, Academic Affairs and the Dean of Students Office, where he managed IT, student conduct and academic integrity processes. He earned his master’s degree in higher education in 2011, and he is a certified Veterans Service Provider through Operation College Promise.

Green’s favorite phrase? “Appreciate ya!”

Staton Noel is the director of theOffice of Innovation Commercialization (OIC), which supports innovation by UNCG faculty, staff and students by protecting intellectual property, negotiating and executing agreements that help facilitate research partnerships, and providing connections to external commercialization partners. After a 20-year career with GlaxoSmithKline, Noel earned his master’s of business administration degree from UNCG and joined OIC in 2011 as a licensing assistant. He served the OIC as a marketing and licensing associate before becoming director.

Noel’s words of wisdom: “The glass is always full, even if one half is air – we need that to breathe.”

“In my view, the purpose of the military is to build peace. Not war,” says Dr. Tom Matyók, associate professor of peace and conflict studies at UNCG.

Before joining academia, Matyók served 23 years. He was an enlisted soldier, a non-commissioned officer and a commissioned officer. He was with the 24th Infantry Division (Mechanized) during Operations Desert Shield and Desert Storm.His career has been one long peace-making operation.

“Building peace is hard. After a war or military confrontation, moving to reconciliation and past the trauma can take generations.”

There’s one essential component the military has long ignored: religion. Overlooking local religious leaders ­– and local religion – does not make sense, Matyók explains. When armies have left, when nonprofit agencies have moved on, religious leaders remain.

“In many conflicts, the only positive force that remains during and after the fighting is a religious one,” he says.

As an academic, Matyók served as senior fellow at the U.S. Army Peacekeeping and Stability Operations Institute, U.S. Army War College, from 2014 to 2016. There, he taught graduate courses on religion and violence and conflict studies. Many of his students had already seen deployments in Afghanistan and Iraq.

A frequent student response: “I wish I had this knowledge before I was deployed.”

Matyók found that the curriculum of military education included almost nothing on religion.

“Very little was being done to prepare these soldiers,” he says. “It’s a gap.”

He has published widely on the topic, and in 2014, he co-edited the book “Peace on Earth: The Role of Religion in Peace and Conflict Studies.”

“We looked around the world for work demonstrating the peace efforts we’re talking about.”

One example was South Sudan and the multiple actors there working to reconcile in the face of violence – each guided by their individual religious beliefs. Another was in Nigeria, where an imam and a pastor set aside their differences to work toward a lasting peace.

Dr. Heidi Carlone will be the first recipient of the Jennifer Smith Hooks ’76 and Jacob T. Hooks Distinguished Professorship in STEM Education.

The professorship, announced in the fall of 2016, is a pivotal component of the School of Education’s vision to provide transformative educational experiences, advance research and innovation, and bridge research and practice.

Carlone is a professor of science education in the Department of Teacher Education and Higher Education. She is a teacher educator and educational researcher who works to make science and engineering pathways more accessible and equitable for historically underserved and underrepresented populations. She studies the potential of innovative science and engineering (STEM) learning settings in promoting STEM identities for K-12 youth who have wide-ranging life experiences, ethnicities, socioeconomic backgrounds, and interests.

She publishes and presents her work in national and international venues and has earned nearly $3.8 million dollars in funding from local and national foundations. This summer, she was awarded a National Science Foundation grant of more than $1 million for the project “BRIDGES for socio-environmental good: BRoadening Identities for Diverse Groups Engaging with STEM.” BRIDGES engages diverse middle school youth and their teachers with out-of-school, problem-based learning that demands science, engineering, and computing as tools to address environmental problems.

She has received a number of awards in her academic career including: The UNCG Alumni Teaching Excellence Award, the UNCG School of Education Teaching Award, the Early Career Research Award from the National Association for Research in Science Teaching, the Early Career Development Award (CAREER) from the National Science Foundation, Sallie Mae First Year Teacher of the Year in Wake County Schools, and North Carolina Teaching Fellow.

“I am honored,” Carlone said. “The Hookses’ generous investment in the UNCG School of Education will allow us to extend and enrich our efforts in STEM research and practice.”

The professorship was established by Jennifer and Jake Hooks. Jennifer Smith Hooks ’76 is a third generation alumna of the School of Education.

Jennifer and Jake Hooks have supported the UNCG School of Education for many years, establishing the Carrie Perkins Davis/Katherine Davis Smith Scholarship in Education in honor of Jennifer’s grandmother and mother. In addition, Jennifer Hooks is a member of the School of Education Advisory Board and the UNCG Alumni Board of Directors.

In a memo Tuesday afternoon, Chancellor Gilliam made the following announcement:

I am pleased to announce that Donna Heath has been named Vice Chancellor of Information Technology Services (ITS). Donna has shown extraordinary leadership in the year she has been Interim Vice Chancellor.

During this time, Donna has championed and helped guide the extremely complicated launch of the Banner XE project. She has provided critical leadership to the ITS management team in developing a new five-year Strategic Technology Plan. In addition, she and her team have had numerous noteworthy achievements this year – everything from collaborating with campus partners to create a virtual lab solution, to delivering high-speed networking to the research park’s North Campus.

Donna has cultivated important relationships with internal and external stakeholders on key strategic initiatives that offer opportunities for both UNCG and our community to grow, including the Tri-Gig Broadband initiative, the Connected Communities initiative, and the Smart City Smart Corridor initiative.

Donna has been a leader in Information Technology for more than 25 years. She has been with UNCG for the last 13 years, serving as the Associate Vice Chancellor for Information Technology Services, Systems and Networks.

Her staff, as well as the broader campus community, have been impressed by her leadership. I can’t think of a better fit for ITS and the university as we continue to take “giant steps.”

UNCG alumnus Paul Chelimo, a public health major, added another highlight to his career last Friday as he won the U.S. National Outdoor Championship in the 5,000-meter race, dominating the field and qualifying for the World Championships in London in early August. Chelimo has been one of the best runners in the 5,000-meter distance since claiming the silver medal at the 2016 Rio Olympics.

Chelimo dominated the field Friday to win the men’s 5,000 meters by over seven seconds in a meet-record 13:08.62.

Jerry Blakemore, UNCG’s general counsel, will receive the Distinguished Service Award from the National Association of College and University Attorneys (NACUA) on June 25. The award honors individuals who have served NACUA and institutions of higher learning and who have made extraordinary contributions to the work of the association.

“Jerry Blakemore is one of NACUA’s most highly respected and much beloved leaders and members,” said association president Kathleen C. Santora. “The Distinguished Service Award certainly recognizes his outstanding service to NACUA and to the higher education community, but it also recognizes his serving as a model of NACUA’s values — quality, service, civility, collegiality, diversity, inclusiveness and respect.”

Blakemore has over 25 years of experience in higher education administration and policy development. Before coming to UNCG in December of 2016, he was vice president and general counsel to the Office of the General Counsel at Northern Illinois University, where he helped shape policies on a variety of issues relevant to college campuses. Blakemore also mentored law students at NIU.

Prior to his position at NIU, he was the chair of the Illinois Board of Higher Education. He is a graduate of Princeton University and earned his juris doctorate at John Marshall Law School. He was the 1976 recipient of the Princeton University Frederick Douglas Service Award for his community service and believes service is an essential part of education.

At UNCG Blakemore works in many areas of policy development crucial to the safety, diversity and efficiency of the campus. Recently, he facilitated professional development for UNCG Athletics that concerns the exercise of First Amendment rights.

“We’d like to make sure the university is not only in compliance with, but encouraging First Amendment rights,” he said.

He will continue his work with NACUA and the U.S. departments of Justice and Education on Title IX issues and the Violence Against Women Act. He is also chair of the Board Advisory Council on Diversity and Inclusiveness of NACUA, and a member of the Finance Committee.

Blakemore is dedicated to university law, and has found that it fits his desire for collaboration and public service.

“I enjoy working around the table as opposed to across the table,” he said. “I like to sit down and talk about challenges or issues, and look to see how we can work it out.”

Vice Chancellor Callahan has been involved in higher education for over 40 years, with a focus on student affairs administration.

She is a “double alumna.” having earned her Ph.D. in Child Development and Family Relations at UNCG, her Master of Arts degree in Counseling from UNC Chapel Hill, and her bachelor’s degree with honors in Sociology from UNCG.

Prior to her tenure here at UNCG, she worked at Delaware State University as Staff Counselor and Director of Orientation. She joined UNCG Student Affairs in 1979 as Assistant to the Vice Chancellor. Ascending the administrative ranks from that role to Assistant Vice Chancellor to Associate Vice Chancellor, she became Interim Vice Chancellor in 2010. The following year, upon the conclusion of a national search, the “interim” title was removed.

What is she most proud of during her time in leadership of Student Affairs? “More recently, it is the establishment of the Veterans Resource Center, which provides support and guidance for our growing veteran population,” she said. “Over time, there are many things including the establishment of our first Office of Disability Services, now the Office of Accessibility Resources and Services, and the Greek Legacy Endowment, which is funded by Greek alumni and funds leadership development for our current fraternity and sorority members.​”

She has taught numerous courses with a particular emphasis on the freshman experience and leadership at Delaware State, Wilmington College and UNCG. Her professional interests include mentoring students and young professionals, managing crises, leadership development, and serving her profession in a variety of ways, most notably the National Association of Student Personnel Administrators which she served as President in 1998-99. She also served as Chair of the NASPA Foundation Board ​from 2012 to 2014.

She has served as a SACS reaffirmation committee member at various institutions since 1996.

She has served on numerous nonprofit boards, volunteered in a variety of roles across the Greensboro community including service as an emergency services volunteer and instructor for the American Red Cross. She is also a past president of the Junior League of Greensboro, which focuses on women’s leadership development and community engagement. She has received recognition and awards both in her professional work and in her community while also presenting dozens of workshops and professional sessions across the country on a variety of topics related to student affairs, leadership development, fundraising, alcohol education and volunteerism.

In a memo, Dr. Dana Dunn, provost and executive vice chancellor, said, ““Cherry,” as she is known to scores of students, staff, and faculty, has provided exceptional commitment and service to UNCG, her alma mater, for the past 38 years. She will be greatly missed by students and colleagues alike.” The provost detailed the impact she has had not only locally, but nationally.

What does Callahan look forward to most when she retires? “Having more time to spend with family and especially my two daughters, who are incredible professionals in their own right.”

A national search for Callahan’s successor will be led by Dr. Alan Boyette, senior vice provost, with support provided by the Isaacson Miller search firm.

The Friends of the UNCG Libraries elected new officers for the 2017-18 year.

Jennifer Koenig was elected as Chair of the Friends for the upcoming year. She is an attorney with Shell Bray Attorneys and Counselors at Law in the trusts and estates practice group. She has extensive experience representing charitable organizations and corporate fiduciaries. In addition to representing public charities, Koenig assists clients in creating private foundations and other charitable entities. In her free time, Koenig enjoys spending time with her husband, Dan, and their daughter, Nel. She is on the Business Ethics Award Committee and serves on many volunteer boards in the Greensboro community, including the Community Foundation of Greater Greensboro’s Board of Directors, Future Fund Steering Committee and Professional Advisors’ Committee. She received her J.D. and A.B. from The University of North Carolina.

The new Vice-Chair/Chair-Elect is Elizabeth Hudson. She is Editor in Chief at Our State magazine and holds a B.A. degree in English from UNCG.

Newly elected to the Board for three-year terms were Betty J. Brown, Bob Hansen and Glenda Schillinger.

How do the materials around you affect you, and how have they affected those who produced them and the environment?

Dr. Anna Marshall-Baker, professor and chair of the Department of Interior Architecture, can tell you. Her research concerns the interconnectedness between the environment, human health and well-being, economic conditions, and aesthetics.

In March, she received the Arnold P. Friedmann Educator of Distinction Award from the Interior Design Educators Council. IDEC’s most significant award recognized her contributions to interior design education, her leadership, her innovations in the profession and her excellence in teaching.

Marshall-Baker’s work on sustainability in interior design has not just influenced -operations and academics at UNCG, but that for every student who studies with an interior design educator. In previous years, as president of IDEC, Marshall-Baker guided the organization to adopt core values in sustainability, so that all educators incorporated it into their coursework and all interior design students gained a fundamental knowledge of sustainability. Through her research and leadership, Marshall-Baker has put the focus on interior design’s interaction with human health and environmental health.

“We need to understand the effect of informed design decisions, and the designer’s power and responsibility to influence quality of life,” she says. “Whether it’s in a home, in a medical facility or on an assembly line.”

Marshall-Baker’s work examines aspects of design such as indoor air quality and the use of nontoxic materials that support normal human development. She has given particular attention to environmental safety for young children, and a good part of her research and advocacy concerns newborn intensive care units (NICUs).
She is a member of the Consensus Committee on Recommended Standards for NICU Design, which combines the efforts of a variety of experts from all fields in analyzing healthcare environments and seeks to implement evidence-based requirements and best practices in design standards. The committee publishes their findings in the Journal of Perinatology.

She also works in biophilia, which is the study of our inherent connection to natural conditions. Marshall-Baker can point to statistics on health and productivity that relate to biophilia. For designers, the challenge is to understand features of the natural world that can be designed into space such as colors, shapes, proportional relationships, and textures that are found in nature. Windows in offices, for example, are desirable to fulfill a human need for natural light conditions.

At UNCG Marshall-Baker promoted sustainability on campus when she was Faculty Senate chair and when she was co-chair of the Sustainability Council. In those roles she facilitated connections across campus and interdisciplinary interaction centered around sustainability – and worked closely with Academic Affairs and Business Affairs to find sustainability-based economic savings.

In the UNCG Department of Interior Architecture, Marshall-Baker compiled a materials library, which is a valuable resource for interior design students. Each material in the library has a documented life history, from its creation to disposal, which students can analyze to discover how “green” a material may be. The emphasis is not only on where the material came from, but on the health of the humans who have worked to produce the material, those who live with it while it’s in use and how it affects the environment after it is discarded.
“Through the library, students develop a process for evaluating material, and for making informed decisions,” she explained. “When they join design firms they’ll be able to advocate for sustainable choices.”

For UNCG, Marshall-Baker sees a future interacting with renewables, and entrepreneurship in green energy. She celebrates UNCG’s efforts to recycle water from chillers, and students’ contributions to and guidance of the Green Fund. She also sees opportunity for even more green education on campus, through classes and initiatives, and through asking questions about our progress toward a healthier planet.

“Students learn about sustainability and then influence how it is taught and practiced at UNCG ,” she said.

For Vice Chancellor for Research and Economic Development Terri Shelton, it comes from collaboration, working as a team and supporting many others at UNCG and in the community.

“I’m much more comfortable working behind the scenes,” she says. “I take the concept of steward leadership really seriously – it’s about supporting other people’s work.”

This week, Shelton will receive one of Triad Business Journal’s 2017 Outstanding Women in Business honors. She will be recognized at a luncheon on Thursday, April 27, and in a special publication later in the week.

Shelton is passionate about efforts that translate research into policies, programs and community initiatives and efforts that involve the collaboration of stakeholders. “How can we ask the right questions, how can we develop tools and methodology, how do we correctly analyze our data,” she asks, “if we aren’t partnering with the folks that are using the services?”

As a result of this focus, parents, teachers, police departments, nonprofits, entrepreneurs, youth, policymakers and researchers worldwide are all partners in UNCG efforts to make an impact in Guilford County, our state and beyond.

“We co-create the research with community partners,” Dr. Shelton explains. “It always generates really great questions.”

In addition to supporting the research, scholarship and creative activity of UNCG faculty, staff and students, Shelton guides community and economic engagement efforts on campus, as well as eight interdisciplinary research centers. Every initiative Shelton oversees is a multi-angled project, attacking problems from multiple directions, and always asking the next big question.

“I’m interested in how we address big issues,” says Shelton.

The approach has guided her own extensive work as a researcher, and the work she has supported over more than 20 years as a leader and mentor at UNCG.

As a researcher and a supporter of research, she effects change through evidence-based interventions. It’s not a simple type of research. In examining a problem, the work doesn’t only analyze one aspect of the equation, but many, and the research is meant to be applied.

“I often say UNCG is good at ‘messy’ research,” she says. But she doesn’t mean it’s disorganized.

“Sometimes the best practices you identify under controlled conditions don’t work in the real world,” she explains. “You have to look at the implementation piece. We look at what the research really means in the real world, and how to tweak it within that context. I think that’s where you end up getting better outcomes. That’s what I call the messy work, but it’s also the fun work. … We have a number of researchers on this campus that are really smart about doing that applied, implementation work. It’s one of the nice things about our research and scholarship.”

Shelton is the author of more than 70 publications, including the landmark “Family-Centered Care for Children with Special Health Care Needs.” The report, published 30 years ago, laid the foundation for an initiative by Surgeon General C. Everett Koop to make services family-centered, culturally competent and community-based.

For that initiative, Shelton had the opportunity to interview thousands of families in order to examine the elements of family-centered care. It showed her the importance of respectful communication and acknowledging the expertise of families as the architects of a patient’s health care. As a continuation of that work, Shelton cofounded the nonprofit Institute for Patient and Family-Centered Care in Bethesda, Md. The center is now in its 25th year, and implements its principle across the country and internationally, to produce better health outcomes.

Since she came to UNCG, Shelton’s research projects have brought around $30 million in grant funding, and her policy and program work in Guilford County and across the state is extensive and diverse.

Before becoming vice chancellor, she served for nearly a decade as director of the UNCG Center for Youth, Family, and Community Partnership, where she focused on early childhood issues and getting kids off to the right start. In that role, she was part of a group of passionate advocates who created the nonprofit North Carolina Infant and Young Child Mental Health Association, which brings together scholars and community collaborators to support the social and emotional development of young children.

Shelton has also contributed to a 20-year-long focused deterrence effort with partners across North Carolina. It’s part of a national initiative to reduce violence using evidence-based, collaborative approaches. The project, which has received national recognition, has addressed gun and gang violence, drugs, and, more recently, domestic violence.

In explaining the success of those initiatives, she says, “For me, everything comes down to relationships and partnerships. … I often use the phrase ‘ask better questions, get better answers.’ I think the collaborative process really gets you to that.”

Another program that Shelton has been instrumental in developing is Beyond Academics, now celebrating its tenth year. The program, which is part of a growing national movement, enables young adults with intellectual disabilities to participate in a college experience on UNCG’s campus for four years and to earn a certificate, while moving toward more fulfilling lives. It’s the first and only four-year program of its kind in North Carolina, and one of the largest in the nation.

“We’re charting new ground,” she says.

Recently, Shelton volunteered at “Mentoring Monday” on UNCG’s campus. She says she took something away from the mentoring sessions as well. In all cases of good mentorship, she explains, “everybody learns.” Among her own mentors are her parents, who she says taught her to be fearless and to give back.

Shelton’s many projects and initiatives are ongoing, and meant to be sustainable — to have an impact on generation after generation. One thing that keeps her inspired is witnessing the differences, whether it’s encountering a young person she knew through a Head Start program who is now in college, or a Beyond Academics student who is excitedly planning his or her future.

“I’ll hear an individual story, where you can see something was changed, the needle was moved, and it’s extremely powerful,” she says. “But almost immediately as I hear that story, I say, ‘But the work’s not done.’”

In his office, Associate Vice Chancellor and Dean of Students Brett Carter has a wall of thank you notes from students. They’re thanking him for the support they needed to finish a successful semester, or for help in reaching graduation and in completing their college degrees. He’ll likely get another flood of them in May, as his work continues and the Dean of Students Office considers the past year and looks toward the next.

“Our philosophy here in the Dean of Students Office, as well as throughout the rest of the campus, is creating the culture of care,” he said. “So, we look at our successes—what has helped students fulfill their academic and individual goals and graduate and advance. Then we think about the incoming class and about what we can do to enhance that culture of care.”

Carter grew up in a family of nine, and when he became one of only two siblings in his family to go to college, he was struck by the care he experienced on a college campus. After majoring in human relations at High Point University, he thought he’d work for a nonprofit agency, but then he said to a friend, “Man, I don’t ever want to leave college. I want to stay in college.”The friend told him about how he could get a graduate degree in higher education, so he came to UNCG to earn his Ph.D in higher education administration. As a UNCG staff member, he started in the Department of Housing and Residence Life, as an area director, and then the assistant director. In 2010 he became the dean of students and was named associate vice chancellor in 2016. Sometimes people ask him how he can work at the same place for 21 years.

“I love what I do,” he answers. “I love the UNCG environment, and there are just so many things UNCG has to offer. This is where I want to be.”

Carter envisions the Dean of Students Office as a hub of support, for students who are new to campus or for any students who are seeking support resources. The staff works collaboratively with a number of departments on the first-year experience, university policy, judicial affairs, student safety concerns, student advocacy, academic integrity and crisis management. More than anything, they want to help students locate and navigate support resources on campus.

“We want you to know that here at UNCG, we care. We care about your success. And success can have different definitions.” Carter cites successful moving-in experiences for freshmen, successful first semesters acclimating to the college environment or students successfully managing wellness—all essential for academic success.

The Dean of Students Office manages several unique programs for helping students feel connected to support and resources. One of those is UNCG Cares. It’s a program for faculty and staff that trains them to recognize students in distress and to connect them to support resources for further help. When a faculty or staff member completes the training, they are given a UNCG Cares sticker to place on their office door, to let students know they can come to that office for support. The program has received national recognition and Carter has shared it with other campuses, such as UNC Chapel Hill.

Another program is Dining with the Deans, which the office hosts four or five times each semester. At those events, students are invited to have lunch with the Dean of Students Office, to learn about the office and listen to presentations by speakers from a variety of campus departments. Carter says students leave the lunches knowing more about support resources on campus, and recognizing that the Dean of Students Office is somewhere they can go for help.

Recently, Carter spoke to the Class of 1967 at their 50th reunion celebration (see visual). He spoke about something that is very important to him: students who face temporary homelessness or food insecurity.

“It has always been a dream of mine to provide support for students in an emergency,” he said. “Their ability to access resources may determine whether they can stay in school, and it might be the thing that keeps them in school.”

The Class of 1967 raised approximately $12,000 for the Student Assistance Fund for Emergencies. With that gift, students who experience an emergency that causes them to lose their housing or ability to buy food will have the resources they need to remain enrolled at UNCG. Helping bolster the health and success of the UNCG student population is a collaborative effort, as Carter points out. Many departments and individuals take part.
“One of the things that I really like about UNCG and the culture here is that people genuinely want to help students,” he said. “I love being able to work in an environment where everybody has the same goal in mind—we all want to see our students succeed.”

Margot Lee Shetterly, best-selling author of the book “Hidden Figures,” will present the commencement address to the university’s 2017 graduating class on Friday, May 12, at the Greensboro Coliseum. “Hidden Figures” was made into a major motion picture nominated for multiple Oscars and Golden Globe awards.

“We are honored to welcome Ms. Shetterly to UNCG as our 2017 Commencement speaker,” said UNCG Chancellor Franklin D. Gilliam, Jr. “I can’t think of a better person to address our graduating class with a message of excellence and opportunity – that regardless of your background or socioeconomic status, incredible things are possible with hard work and commitment. ‘Hidden Figures’ brings to life UNCG’s values of inclusion, opportunity and excellence. As our 2017 graduating class looks to the future, we are confident that they too, like the real-life heroes portrayed in ‘Hidden Figures,’ will go out into the world and accomplish great things.”

The book and film tell the story of the pioneering female mathematicians, known as “human computers,” who worked at NASA during the space race. “Hidden Figures” has a direct connection to UNCG; alumna Virginia Tucker ’30 was one of five trailblazing women to join the first human computer pool at Langley Memorial Aeronautical Laboratory (now Langley Research Center) in 1935. Langley was the main research center for the National Advisory Committee for Aeronautics (NACA), the precursor to NASA.

When World War II broke out in 1939, more women were recruited as computers to conduct wind tunnel testing and other critical research for the military. Tucker recruited heavily at institutions across the East Coast, including UNCG (known then as the Woman’s College of the University of North Carolina). In fact, UNCG graduated one of the largest cohorts of women who went on to work as human computers.

Commencement speakers at UNCG date back to 1893, with then-Governor Elias Carr addressing the students. Since that time, the university has welcomed ambassadors, governors, authors, university presidents, professors, bishops, ministers and other notable speakers throughout its history.

“There’s something powerful that’s tapped into when people are willing to listen,” said UNCG Jazz Studies professor and trumpet player Brandon Lee.

Lee has known he would be a musician since he was nine years old. He came from a musical family—his father was a band director and everyone played instruments. They tried him on the saxophone at first, and it wasn’t a match.

But as soon as he picked up the trumpet, “That was it,” he said. “They saw me focus like never before.”

Throughout his later childhood and high school years, Lee grew as a performer, and in 1999 he won “best soloist” in the Essential Ellington high school competition hosted by Jazz at Lincoln Center in New York City. There he met the world famous Wynton Marsalis, director of the renowned Jazz at Lincoln Center Orchestra.

After that, Marsalis kept in touch with Lee. Something big was brewing up at The Juilliard School, one of the world’s leading music schools. A year later, Lee, who was 17, was asked to play a Louis Armstrong tribute with the Jazz at Lincoln Center Orchestra, along with another classmate and a 14-year-old Trombone Shorty, for PBS special. (The video is online.)

Right after the performance, Victor Goines, who would become the director of the jazz program at Julliard, said to Lee, “Okay, that was your audition.”

The following year, Lee became part of the inaugural jazz class at Juilliard. Among the many things he learned there: Be excellent immediately. As Lee says, sometimes jazz is “the underdog” in professional music and in music schools, and the first class had to prove themselves in the most competitive music school in the nation. Lee and his classmates worked hard, under Goines’s meticulous direction. They often subbed in for the performers of the Jazz at Lincoln Center Orchestra, no small honor for musicians in their late teens and early twenties.

Wynton Marsalis continued to be a major mentor for Lee.

“He taught me what he always says, ‘There’s only one way to play.’ You’ve got to bring it, night after night.”
Even after he finished his studies at Juilliard, Lee was still learning from Marsalis. When he began touring with the Jazz at Lincoln Center Orchestra as a regular player, he received what the group called “the initiation” from his mentor. Marsalis was the most specific and detailed-focused musician—and teacher—Lee had ever met. The Jazz at Lincoln Center Orchestra was a sort of family for Lee, and he continued to grow as a performer through his work with them.

Currently, Lee plays in several touring jazz groups, making appearances at New York’s Village Vanguard and Birdland. He recently made a tour with pianist Aaron Diehl and his band, playing “Jelly and George,” a program based on an imaginary meeting of Jelly Roll Morton and George Gershwin, who were contemporaries but never actually met. Occasionally, you can catch Lee in Durham at The Shed or Sharp Nine Gallery, or very occasionally in town, at the O. Henry Hotel.

He also writes his own music and produces albums, working with his core group in New York, his UNCG colleagues or with a new group he co-founded, Uptown Jazz Tentet, which released a new album, “There It Is,” in March. The cd release party will be in New York City in July, at Smalls jazz club.

In the UNCG trumpet studio, where he has taught since 2013, Lee aspires to give the same tough training he received to his own students. He expects them to learn their jazz music history, to “listen with a purpose,” as he says, and be influenced by what they hear. From the cd covers posted in his studio, it’s clear Lee wants his students to take in the jazz greats—Miles Davis, Ellington, Dizzy Gillespie, Ornette Coleman, Charlie Parker, Clifford Brown, Sonny Rollins and many others, all of whom Lee cites as influences on his own work.

“They created the musical language we use in jazz today,” Lee explained.

In addition to committing to relentless practice, Lee asks his UNCG students to develop their ideas in music, to take the initiative in selecting their tunes and to do their absolute best every time they play.

Because, he says, echoing his mentor, there’s only one way to play.

Brandon Lee’s mentor, Wynton Marsalis, will speak and perform with the Jazz at Lincoln Center Orchestra at UNCG April 20. See next week’s Campus Weekly for a feature on the upcoming performance and campus visit.

Philips became UNCG’s HUB coordinator in 2009. He has shown a clear commitment to meaningful partnerships with HUB contractors, and during the last five years, with his guidance, UNCG’s HUB participation has been higher than 30 percent, far exceeding the state’s recommended goal of 10 percent and UNCG’s own goal of 15 percent.

Phillips has worked closely with UNCG Purchasing and many other departments in contracting with HUB firms. He has promoted HUB projects on the UNCG campus by facilitating collaboration between UNCG, HUB contractors, majority contractors and other surrounding state agencies. He also encouraged UNCG to establish a HUB participation goal for design services under the open ended design services program. He attends many stakeholder meetings with HUB contractors to help identify potential barriers and challenges.

Assoc. VC for Facilities Jorge Quintal with Phillips

Associate Vice Chancellor for Facilities Jorge Quintal says of Phillips, “Tony’s commitment to providing opportunity for HUB firms to participate in UNCG’s construction program is remarkable. Through the HUB program, local and regional HUB contractors are able to compete for construction work at UNCG and when they are successful in winning a contract, they know that Tony is always available to make sure any issue that may arise during the execution of the contract is resolved. Because of his working experience and knowledge of the construction industry, Tony is very effective in working with construction managers in identifying opportunities for HUB firms in large university projects.”

In reference to his dedication to UNCG’s HUB involvement, Phillips said, “It is my goal each year to continue making significant gains towards building a strong program dedicated to providing minority businesses equal opportunities on UNCG’s campus.”

In 2011, Phillips helped create the UNC System Triad Coalition-Annual Minority Construction and Supplier Outreach Event, a project with Winston-Salem State University and NC A&T University that provides networking opportunities for UNC system schools, HUB contractors and majority contractors. With Philip’s direction, UNCG co-hosted the NC HUB Office Contractors College, an eleven-week program dedicated to increasing the capabilities and capacities of HUB/Minority contractors. Phillips also developed a HUB Coordinator procedures manual for facilitating processes at every stage, from design through construction.

Antonio Wallace, CEO of a local HUB firm, GP Supply Company, praised Phillips by saying, “When I first met UNCG’s HUB Coordinator, Tony Phillips, I immediately sensed his dedication to providing HUB Businesses equal access to the university’s construction and procurement opportunities. After working with him the past three years, I realize that Tony is a tremendous asset, not only to the HUB community, but to everyone. He recognizes the value of relationships and encourages networking and collaboration between the university, HUB contractors and majority contractors. His efforts are consistent and his commitment to the HUB community is unwavering.”

Some text in this piece courtesy the N.C. Department of Administration HUB Office.

Dr. Martin Halbert has been appointed dean of University Libraries effective July 17, 2017.

Halbert has served as the dean of libraries and associate professor at the University of North Texas since 2009. Halbert also serves as president the board of directors of the Educopia Institute, a growing international alliance of cultural memory organizations that was one of the founding partners of the US National Digital Preservation Program. Prior to this appointment, he served as the director for digital innovations and earlier as the director for digital programs and systems at Emory University Libraries. Previous positions have included appointments at Rice University, a consultant for the IBM Corporation and a programmer for the University of Texas. Early in his career, Halbert was an ALA/USIA Library Fellow stationed in Estonia, assisting with the automation of the Tartu University Library.

He has served as principal investigator for grants and contracts totaling more than $6 million during the past six years, funding more than a dozen large-scale collaborative projects among many educational institutions. His doctoral research and subsequent projects have focused on exploring the future of research library services.

Halbert received his Ph.D from Emory University, an MLIS from the University of Texas and a BA from Rice University.

This month, Dr. Catherine Ennis, professor of curriculum theory and development in the UNCG’s Department of Kinesiology, will be honored with the Luther Halsey Gulick Medal, which is the highest award given by SHAPE America – Society of Health and Physical Educators. A few days prior at the SHAPE America conference, she will give the Research Quarterly for Exercise and Sport lecture titled, “Educating Students for a Lifetime of Physical Activity: Enhancing Mindfulness, Motivation and Meaning.”

Ennis’ research focuses on physical education in urban school settings, and seeks to determine what curriculum is most effective in enhancing student learning. She has been principal investigator for National Institutes of Health grants totaling more than $3 million that funded the design and assessment of the elementary school program “Science, PE, & Me!” and the middle school program “Science of Healthful Living.”

Of her experience studying physical education Ennis says, “I have always enjoyed the opportunity to create and apply knowledge to enhance school and student-related learning.”

Throughout her career she’s seen changes in physical education, and says the biggest one has been the shift from curriculum that trains students to play sports, to that which is focused on a variety of physical activities. This curriculum trend results in a better experience for students who are not already skilled in sports.

“It is difficult to have fun in sports and games and to want to participate at all if you are not already skillful,” she says.

Ennis has co-authored or edited three books, “The Curriculum Process in Physical Education,” “Student Learning in Physical Education: Applying Research to Enhance Instruction,” and “The Routledge Handbook of Physical Education Pedagogies.” She has been the pedagogy section editor for Research Quarterly for Exercise and Sport and is an editorial board member for Contemporary Educational Psychology. She is also a past-president of the National Academy of Kinesiology. She has published over 80 research articles in refereed education and physical education journals and delivered over 175 presentations to international, national and regional audiences.

She’s been a member of SHAPE for 40 years and also served as president of the SHAPE Research Consortium in 2010. She was also the SHAPE/AAHPERD Alliance Scholar, presenting the Scholar Lecture, “On Their Own: Preparing Students for a Lifetime.”

In 2008, Ennis received the Distinguished Alumni Award (M.S. ‘77) and in 2013, the Distinguished Senior Researcher Award from the School of Health and Human Sciences at UNCG. She has received many other awards for her research and service to public schools, and was even inducted into the Lynchburg College Sports Hall of Fame (field hockey and lacrosse) in 1992.

UNCG sociology professor Dr. Saundra Westervelt views Lucinda Devlin’s “Omega Suites” photographs in the Weatherspoon Art Museum with an inroad to their significance. She’s a leading researcher on death row exonerees, and she’ll speak about the photographs in a special event in the gallery on March 2.

“Illinois, where they no longer have a death penalty. I have several very close friends who were almost executed here.”

The photographs from Devlin’s most celebrated collection show empty, clean execution chambers, each with a distinct personality. Westervelt has known people who have lived near them for 20 or more years, before they were proven innocent and released from death row.

“Oh, Yellow Mama, in Alabama,” she says, pausing in front of the photograph of the chair, which was intentionally painted a commanding bright yellow. “This particular chair, in the circles of people who study the death penalty, is famous.”Westervelt and her colleague Dr. Kim Cook (UNCW) compile the stories of innocent people who have been convicted of capital crimes, incarcerated on death row and later released because of their factual innocence. Together, they have interviewed many exonerees and written extensively about the challenges they face in “Life after Death Row: Exonerees’ Search for Identity and Community,” published by Rutgers University Press. Westervelt is also co-editor of a collection of essays, “Wrongly Convicted: Perspectives on Failed Justice” and an edition of the Albany Law Review dedicated specifically to the aftermath issues experienced by exonerated death row survivors. Before she began her research, little was known about the lives of exonerees after prison, and few resources were available to them.

Through her research, she knew Walter McMillan, one subject of “Just Mercy,” an award-winning memoir by attorney Bryan Stevenson. Recently, Westervelt has led discussions on Stevenson’s work at a Friends of the UNCG Libraries event and at Scuppernong Books.

“He was put on death row before he was even convicted,” she shares about Walter McMillan, who lived in close proximity to Yellow Mama for six years, and expected to end his life there, she says.

Westervelt also counts among her close friends Kirk Bloodsworth, the first death row DNA exoneree in the entire United States. Following his exoneration, Bloodsworth worked with Congress to pass the Innocence Protection Act of 2003, and established the Kirk Bloodsworth Post-conviction DNA Testing Program, to protect other innocent people.

“Innocence is a very powerful thing,” Westervelt says, explaining that a high number of death row exonerees has led to the banning of the death penalty in some states, such as Illinois.

“Virginia. I’ve known a lot of people who were almost executed in that chair.”

In all the photographs of the immaculately clean execution chambers, Westervelt notices Devlin revealing “the attempt to sanitize it.” But the many exonerees Westervelt has interviewed would say it’s not possible.

“If you’re looking for a sanitized, painless way to kill people, you’re not going to succeed. On death row there’s this pervasive atmosphere of death, because everybody there is waiting to be killed. It’s a place of despair.”

Westervelt is vice chair of the board of Witness to Innocence, the only national organization whose members are solely death row exonerees, and she will attend the annual conference in April. She explains that the “Innocence Movement” took shape in the late nineties and early 2000s.

“The more that those cases became public, it made people think twice.” As public awareness increased, the United States’ use of the death penalty began to decline, after the height of its use in the late 1990s. Currently, 31 states have a death row, including most of those shown in Devlin’s photographs.

Westervelt is now gathering data on North Carolina exonerees, studying reparations, compensations and lawsuits. She also is working with a sociology graduate student, Tiffany Merritt, to gather information on the reparations received by all 157 death row exonerees in the U.S. One thing she has found that exonerees rarely get: an apology.

“That’s what they say they really want more than anything.”

She says that the people she knows who were exonerated from death rows are very lucky, and adds, “To think that there aren’t more people who are innocent who will be executed is just wishful thinking. They just aren’t lucky.”

Westervelt will speak on Devlin’s “Omega Suites: The Architecture of Capital Punishment” this Thursday, March 2, at 6 p.m. in the Bob & Lissa Shelley McDowell Gallery at the Weatherspoon Art Museum.

Retired Navy Commander Porter Halyburton, whose inspiring story of war and friendship was told in the book “Two Souls Indivisible,” will visit UNCG on Monday, Feb. 20, to share his experience as a prisoner of war during the Vietnam War.

The event will begin at 4 p.m. in EUC Auditorium.

The lecture, titled “Honor Under Pressure: Reflections of a Former POW in North Vietnam,” is part of HHS’s Ethel Martus Lawther Lecture Series and the War & Peace Imagined event series.

The event is free and open to the public. Free parking is available in the Oakland Avenue Parking Deck on campus. A reception will follow.

Commander Porter Halyburton was commissioned in 1964 and flew combat missions in Southeast Asia from the aircraft carrier USS Independence beginning in 1965. In his 75th combat mission, Halyburton was forced to eject and was captured by the North Vietnam military. He spent 2,675 days in captivity, and was released during Operation Homecoming on February 12, 1973. He received the Prisoner of War Medal, the Legion of Merit award for exceptional meritorious conduct and the Silver Star Medal for gallantry in action.
Halyburton remained with the Navy until his retirement in 1984, serving with the Navy ROTC at Georgia Tech and then at the Naval War College where he taught strategy and policy, international relations, leadership and ethics, and the military code of conduct.

Fifteen years ago, Professor Sat Gupta brought up his favorite subject, RRT survey sampling, in his introductory statistics class. RRT, or Randomized Response Technique, is a practical approach to a common dilemma in survey sampling — the possibility that a respondent might lie.

“A face-to-face survey may lead to serious social desirability response bias,” explained Gupta. “It’s the tendency in respondents to give socially acceptable responses rather than true responses.”

RRT reduces that tendency in survey participants by allowing them to scramble their responses and maintain their privacy. This is particularly helpful, Gupta told the class, with embarrassing survey questions, like “Have you ever had an abortion?”

Suddenly, a student stood up and asked, “What makes you think that a woman would be ashamed of having an abortion?” Gupta was taken aback — and then inspired.

He realized that researchers had been limiting themselves with RRT by making assumptions about what participants would and would not find sensitive. What researchers needed was an optional RRT model.

A new model

In a commonly used RRT model, a researcher might have a participant draw a card from a deck. Some of the cards display the number 0, some display 1, some -1, and so on. The participant is instructed to add the number on the card to their answer to a question — for example, “How many sexual partners have you had?” The participant is able to respond without fear of judgment because the researcher doesn’t know what is on the card they have drawn and has no way to unscramble their individual answer.

However, the researcher does know what cards are in the deck — both the type of cards and how many. So he knows the probability that a participant is adding 1 to their answer, or -1, etc. Using that probability information, the aggregate answers provided by the survey participants, and sophisticated statistical modeling, the researcher can estimate the surveyed group’s average answer to the question of interest.

In Gupta’s Optional RRT model, the participant has an additional choice if they don’t find the research question embarrassing. They can draw the card, ignore its contents, and provide a straightforward answer to the researcher’s question. The researcher will not know that particular participant provided an unscrambled response. However, the pool of survey answers now contains unscrambled responses as well as scrambled responses, which, with the correct modeling, allows the researcher to estimate the average response to the research question with greater accuracy.

Seminal work

Gupta’s 2002 publication on Optional RRT became a landmark paper in the field.

“We proved that optional models are more efficient than their non-optional counterparts,” explains Gupta. “This idea has become very popular and a lot of papers have been written based on this idea.” In fact, the paper has been cited more than 100 times.

With more than 25 papers on this topic, Gupta has continued to refine the Optional RRT model. His recent work centers on unifying Optional RRT with the use of auxiliary variables. In the latest model, researchers collect sensitive information from participants using Optional RRT, but they also gather secondary, non-sensitive information. The trick? The secondary information — for example, responses to “How many relationships have you had?” — is statistically correlated with the primary, sensitive question.

Each evolution of the model brings researchers greater accuracy. Gupta’s impact is felt not just in his field but in every field using survey sampling as a tool.

According to UNCG’s Dr. Bob Wineburg, there’s a gap between perceived religious life in America and the reality of religious life in America.

There’s what he calls the “religious industry,” which is focused on high-profile issues such as abortion and religious freedom. And then there are the millions of acts by congregations – the coat drives and the warm meals – that greatly contribute to public life with little fanfare.

This special edition features articles from top community-engaged scholars in the United States and Australia. UNCG’s Dr. Jay Poole, Dr. John Rife, Dr. Daniel Rhodes and Fran Pearson contributed to the edition, along with professors from Duke University, University of Pennsylvania and Bucknell University, among others. Their findings are the result of years of developing deep relationships with congregations and faith leaders.

Why is this research important? Wineburg explains that contractual relationships with religious congregations providing public service date back to the beginning of the nation, when Quakers transformed their poorhouses into hospitals and contracted with the Continental Army to serve wounded veterans.

“Religious communities and their contributions to the collective are the least understood part of our voluntary tradition in the United States,” he said.

The special edition provides a better understanding of the partnerships between religious communities, government and nonprofit organizations and what makes them successful. Ultimately, Wineburg plans to assemble the articles into a volume that will help shape best practices and guide younger scholars in the field.

“There’s a whole generation of engaged scholars out there who want to solve real-world issues,” he said. “This is an opportunity to put all of the work that’s been done in the field in one spot.”

Nancy Doll, director of UNCG’s Weatherspoon Art Museum, traveled to Nanjing, China, this past fall as the only American to present at the first International Forum of Cultural Inheritance and Innovation.

Doll was invited to the conference because of her vast experience in curating and preserving modern and contemporary art, and also because of a visit that twenty-eight delegates from the Chinese People’s Association for Friendship with Foreign Countries (CPAFFC) paid to UNCG in 2012. The representatives of seven Chinese provinces had traveled to the United States specifically to see how the arts are developed, promoted and taught. During their three days at UNCG, they visited the Weatherspoon, receiving an introduction to it from Doll and her colleagues.

The October conference in Nanjing, organized in-part by Nanjing University, UNESCO and the CPAFFC, featured a mixture of scholars and cultural officials from all over the world, presenting on a variety of topics concerning the preservation of cultural heritage. For her presentation, Doll described the Weatherspoon and spoke about the challenges of collecting and preserving contemporary art. Her topic, she said, was of particular interest to scholars from China and other cultures traditionally focused on preserving centuries-old historical artifacts rather than contemporary work.

The International Forum of Cultural Inheritance and Innovation was highly international, and Doll remarked on the particular novelty of having simultaneous translations of many languages were available through headphones. Conference participants were given cultural tours of the Nanjing area, including the Nanjing Museum, which Doll described as impressive, particularly in its display practices. Doll also traveled to Shanghai to view the city, which she found visually, technologically and culturally inspiring.

“I think it altered my perspective, to be in touch with this extremely ancient, extremely enormous culture,” she said.

For Dr. Dan Hendrickson, UNCG’s new medical director of Student Health Services, college campus health is his ultimate calling. As a parent of three college athletes, and a physician who’s spent most of his career serving a student population, he knows the student is not a number.

One new thing Hendrickson is bringing to UNCG’s student health center operations is the Student Health Advisory Committee, a group of eight to ten students who will help assess UNCG’s health services.

He is also looking forward to collaborating with the new Kaplan Center for Wellness, the Office of Accessibility Resources and Services and other campus health resources.

In 2015, UNCG was chosen by Active Minds as one of five campuses in the nation distinguished in prioritizing health and in creating a healthy college community, and Hendrickson is pleased to build on that accomplishment. His vision for a campus health center focuses on understanding day-to-day life on a campus, offering integrated services to each individual student. He says there is no one size fits all for managing the health of a campus community.

Before coming to UNCG, Hendrickson spent 18 years as director of medical services and head team physician for the University of Michigan Athletic Department, and was a staff physician at their University Health Services. Before that, he was an assistant professor of clinical medicine at the Penn State University College of Medicine and an attending physician in the Department of Medicine at Lehigh Valley Hospital. He has covered many championship events and Bowl games with Michigan Athletics, as well as the New York City Marathon, and has served as a volunteer at the U.S. Olympic Training Center in Lake Placid.

With “education in his blood,” as he says, Dr. Hendrickson takes it as his mission not only to provide accessible and high quality health services to all students, but also to teach them about their health care options.

“We have the ability to work with a multidisciplinary approach, because there’s so much here,” he says.

Dr. Keith Debbage is on a new track. He’s been writing the State of the City Report for the Greensboro Partnership for twelve years, and in the past year, he has moved into research concerning the geography of entrepreneurship by metropolitan areas, a subject he describes as “a key part of our future.”

Debbage is a professor of urban development in the Department of Geography and Veteran Coleman Entrepreneurship Fellow in the UNCG Bryan School of Business and Economics. This fall he attended the World Bank/George Washington University Annual Entrepreneurship Conference in Washington DC, presenting a paper titled “Geographies of Entrepreneurial Ecosystems: Non-Farm Proprietorship Employment by U.S. Metropolitan Area.” He finds his new research and teaching interests well-suited to a city like Greensboro, experiencing significant changes and development in recent years, especially regarding the ongoing evolution of its own entrepreneurial ecosystem.

Following his submission of this year’s State of the City analysis, his op-ed in the News & Record reported on Greensboro’s “fledgling recovery,” citing major developments in downtown, the desirability of a growing Greensboro as a place to live, and a low high school dropout rate. Debbage and his colleagues have studied comparable developing cities, such as Greenville, S.C., and Chattanooga, Tenn.

Debbage says of Greensboro, “There’s one big thing that makes us truly unique. A substantial amount of the really cool change in this city is not from the private sector, and it’s not from the public sector. It’s from the non-profits.” He points to the public art downtown, the urban greenway, Center City Park, and the Grasshoppers’ new stadium, noting that the Bryan Foundation, the Community Foundation of Greater Greensboro and other non-profits have spurred a great deal of Greensboro’s recent development.

In his teaching, Debbage strives to expose students to a blend of traditional research and applied research, or experience with real world projects. Students he’s worked with often go on to become Triad city planning directors or policy analysts in the U.S. Census Bureau, most likely because of their applied geography experience.

Debbage praises private entrepreneurs, some of them UNCG graduates, who are developing South Elm Street. As well, he praises Greensboro’s grassroots entrepreneurial startups and the “green shoots phenomenon” – young graduates inventing their own projects and, subsequently, careers.

Michelle Lamb Moone has been named as the new associate vice chancellor for human resources at The University of North Carolina at Greensboro. Moone has over 25 years of human resources experience.

Moone received a bachelor of science degree in Human Resources Management from the University of Maryland and a master of science degree in Applied Behavioral Science from Johns Hopkins University. Most recently, she held leadership positions at Howard University in Washington, DC, including senior director for talent management; director of compensation for performance management and HRIS; and director of organization development and change management.

Moone is a certified Senior Professional in Human Resources (SPHR) and a member of several professional organizations, including the College and University Professional Association of Human Resources, Society for Human Resources Management and Organization Development Network.

Moone will assume her leadership role on December 12, 2016. She replaces Deb Carley, who has served as the interim associate vice chancellor for human resources since spring 2015.

I would like to extend a sincere thank you to Terri Shelton, chair, and members of the search committee; and faculty and staff, who participated in this very important search.

Please join me in congratulating and welcoming Michelle Lamb Moone as associate vice chancellor for human resources. We are excited about her addition to the UNCG campus community.

Kristine Davidson has joined UNCG as associate vice chancellor for University Advancement.

Among other responsibilities, she will oversee the major and annual giving teams in Development.

“I am proud and delighted to have a new associate with the breadth of experience Kris brings to this pivotal role,” said Dr. Jan Zink, vice chancellor for Advancement.

Most recently, Davidson was associate dean for advancement for the UNC Chapel Hill School of Law. She served in Chapel Hill six years, overseeing all fundraising and alumni relations for the law school.

Before that, she was director of development at Duke University School of Law, where she also managed the Annual Fund team.

And the start of her career? “I cut my teeth as a (higher education) fundraiser at Westminster College in Salt Lake City,” she says. She became director of the annual fund and then director of development.

She has a special calling for the support of higher education. “I love asking people to invest in a vision for our students and faculty,” she says.

She graduated from Brigham Young University with a major in public relations, and planned to begin her career at a firm in New York City. But her 19-year-old sister died in a car accident, and her outlook on life changed.

“What am I doing with my life?” she asked.

So she began her career with something particularly meaningful, as a fundraiser for the American Cancer Society.

“Working for a non-profit was great training.” Resources were limited so you had to be strategic and nimble, she explains. And there were lots of opportunities to learn.

Her work furthering the mission of first the cancer society and now her work at universities has been very fulfilling.

She enjoys strategy and planning vision. This (UNCG position) allows me to do that at a higher level.”

I am pleased to share that Jeff Shafer will be UNCG’s new Associate Vice Chancellor and Chief Communications Officer.

Jeff brings with him over 23 years of communications experience. As Vice President of Global Communications for Lenovo, a $46 billion global technology leader, he has led the firm’s global marketing and branding campaigns, crisis management, executive and internal communications, and media relations. He has also served as Senior Vice President at Fleishman-Hillard, the world’s largest public relations agency.

Jeff has been actively engaged in the higher education community in North Carolina. He currently serves on the UNC Chapel Hill School of Media and Journalism Board of Advisers. In addition to guest lecturing at a number of area colleges, he is also the Wells Fargo Endowed Chair in Communications at North Carolina Central University this semester.

I would like to thank the team at University Communications for their hard work and dedication during this time of transition.

Dr. Kelly Burke has spent the last 27 years creating memorable learning experiences for music students at UNCG. Now, she’s bringing that ingenuity to her new role as vice provost for graduate education.

“I teach creativity. I teach risk taking. My goal is to never have a repeatable event,” she said. “I give other people permission to think about things differently.”

UNCG’s Graduate School partners with departments to add capacity, share ideas from program to program and provide professional development for students.

“It’s a really exciting time to lead the Graduate School,” Burke said. “I have a larger impact on the university than I did when I was primarily in the arts.”

UNCG’s graduate students are working on high-level research and interesting projects, and they’re led by exceptional faculty members.

“The quality of your graduate education goes hand in hand with the quality of your faculty,” Burke said. “UNCG has always accepted students where they are and taken them to where they need to be to be successful.”

Since her early days at UNCG, Burke has consistently taken on a growing role within the university. When she first started teaching clarinet, she only had seven students. Over the years, she grew the clarinet program and began teaching other classes, such as pedagogy, literature and research for musical performers. She also served as department chair and associate dean.

Burke’s doctor of musical arts is from the University of Michigan. She earned both her master’s degree in performance and music education and her bachelor’s degree in music performance and music education from the Eastman School of Music in Rochester, New York. She also received an associate of art degree from Onondaga Community College in Syracuse, New York.

The UNCG Bryan School of Business and Economics presented Steven Strader with the 2016 Distinguished Alumni Award during the annual Emeritus Advisor Society and Awards Dinner in September. This annual award is presented to alumni who have achieved outstanding success in business. The award recognizes exceptional achievement and significant contribution to the recipient’s profession and to the business community.

Steve Strader (left, with Dean Banks) received both his bachelor’s and master’s degrees in business studies from the Bryan School. His career began in corporate and commercial banking, where he spent 20 years in progressively responsible positions with NCNB, NationsBank, and Bank of America. He moved to the automobile industry as Chief Financial Officer with Driver’s Mart Worldwide where he helped build an impressive company that was later acquired by AutoNation, a Fortune 200 company and America’s largest automotive retailer. He served as President of both the Colorado and Midwest markets before moving on to become Senior Vice President of Retail Operations, having responsibility for new and used vehicle sales on a national level, overseeing over 300 dealerships, vehicle pricing, car and truck inventories, associate performance development, and finance and insurance.

He embodies the UNCG motto of “Service.” His many philanthropic and volunteer causes have included SafeHouse Denver, Horses and the Handicapped of South Florida, Boy Scout Council of Sarasota County, The Hundred Club – an organization that supports firefighters and law enforcement officers and their families, The Economic Council of Palm Beach County, the United Way of Broward County, Racing for Cancer, and the Dolphin Cycling Challenge. He also serves on the Dean’s Advisory Board within the Bryan School.

They surprised her in a morning meeting with blue, gold and white balloons, flowers (mostly daisies), and a proclamation of her title as “Ms. Homecoming 2016.”

Each year, the Alumni Association recognizes a UNCG employee who demonstrates a strong sense of Spartan pride, serves as a mentor to others and is committed to providing quality service to all members of the UNCG community as “Mr. or Ms. Homecoming.”

Dr. Hooper received her master’s at UNCG in Speech-Language Pathology. She has been a member of the UNCG faculty since 2003. She served as dean of the School of Health and Human Performance from 2007 to 2011 (the initial year as interim dean), and has served as founding dean of the School of Health and Human Sciences since 2011.

She will be a featured participant in the Parade of Chariots Saturday afternoon, and she will be introduced at Kaplan Commons on the main stage around 7 p.m. along with the Homecoming Court.

Robert Walker, director of Business Services and Systems, has received a 2016 Governor’s Award for Excellence for his innovative redesign of UNCG’s mail management system. The Spartan Mail Management system, introduced in 2013, is the first of its kind in use at a university.

Before the invention of Walker’s mail system, UNCG was facing a cost of up to a million dollars if it were to purchase a commercial mail management system. Over six months Walker created his own web-based system that included helpful features that weren’t available in the marketplace systems. With the new system, traditional mailbox assignments were done away with, and students receive an email telling them when they have mail to pick up. That saves UNCG $65,000 each year and means staff do not have to re-assign individual mailboxes. Additionally, junk mail is no longer distributed. Students are more satisfied, and the savings to the university are substantial.

Along with the other UNC system award winners, Walker received a congratulatory tweet from UNC President Margaret Spellings. He has been featured in University Business Magazine, as well as on UNCG’s homepage, and has won the NACAS Regional Rising Star and Innovative Use of Technology awards.

Walker joined UNCG in 2007 as a technical design specialist, charged with managing departmental websites, and in 2011, he also became the manager of the SpartanCard Center. His work with the SpartanCard program became a good foundation for his completion of UNCG’s MBA program, from which he graduated in 2014. Walker, who also currently is Staff Senate co-chair, says about himself, “I really just view myself as someone who wants to solve problems.”

John Gale and Robert Walker say that UNCG Staff Senate has grown into a strong and articulated organization, thanks to the thoughtful participation of staff members and great leadership year after year since 1998.

John Gale and Robert Walker are 2016-17 co-chairs. Gale is senior security specialist in ITS. Walker is director of Business Services with Campus Enterprises.

When Gale joined, he had worked in ITS at UNCG for nine years. He explains that he joined because of his curiosity about what was going on at the university. Now, he knows. And he’s spent six of the subsequent eight years serving on Staff Senate in addition to fulfilling his ITS duties. During those years, Staff Senate really grew into its own, he explains. “Over time each staff senate has laid out processes that the next group can follow, so you’re not always starting from scratch.”

Robert Walker, who created the award-winning Spartan mail management system (see related story in next week’s issue), was recruited to serve on the organization for a couple of years, partly to assist with some technical duties such as website building, but he returned in 2016 with new enthusiasm. In the years between Walker’s first tenure and when he rejoined, Staff Senate evolved to a point that it serves as a crucial communication link between staff and administration, aiming to be, as John Gale says, “A trustworthy group to both parties.”

Both co-chairs say that the administration is quite supportive of the dialogue with Staff Senate, and they have actually expanded their meetings in recent years, so that they meet with the chancellor every month and the provost and vice chancellor of Business Affairs every other month. “It’s really nice to get different perspectives,” Gale notes.

Some recent highlights of Staff Senate activity? There’s the recently launched voluntary leave program, through which employees can donate extra leave time to colleagues in critical need because of a medical or family situation. Staff Senate is also still developing, by having members participate in more campus committees that concern UNCG’s strategic plan and its growth. Other Staff Senate projects include organizing Habitat for Humanity builds, Sullivan Garden on the Downtown Greenway, One Million Good Nights pajama drive and Angel Tree drives. Concerning Staff Senate’s increased activity, Gale says, “We’ve really got some momentum.”

Often Staff Senate is aware of changes that are taking place on campus and can become informed of the reasons for them, and can then better explain them to their fellow staff members. Also, every two years they collect information from staff through a survey designed to clarify staff concerns for the administration. At the same time they ask their administration contacts, “What are the priorities of the institution and how can we help?”

Gale speaks of working toward “alignment,” that is each staff member’s goals with those of the university, so that every person feels he or she is contributing towards a definite mission. He uses the alignment in NASA’s mission to put man on the moon as an example. Walker’s message for UNCG staff concerning what’s happening on campus? “Be engaged. And if you have a problem or issue, bring it to us. We’re here to help.”

Dr. Henry Samuel Levinson, professor of religious studies, died in 2010 at age 61 from complications stemming from multiple sclerosis.

But his spirit lives on. He was honored this past weekend as the Woven Works Park on the Downtown Greenway was officially opened. It is one of the cornerstones of the Greenway.

Levinson was a professor at UNCG for over twenty-five years. He served as associate dean of the College of Arts and Sciences, head of the Department of Religious Studies, and director of the Center for Critical Inquiry in the Liberal Arts.

In 1998, UNCG established the Henry Samuel Levinson Program Fund in Jewish Studies, including the Levinson Lecture in Jewish Studies series, in his honor, his obituary notes.

Before joining the UNCG faculty in 1982, Levinson taught at Stanford and Harvard Universities. He was a Phi Beta Kappa graduate of Stanford and earned a doctorate from Princeton.

Levinson family members were on hand for the dedication last Saturday. A speaker noted that due to MS, Levinson had used a wheelchair for the last decades of his life – and that the accessible features in the park were a wonderful tribute to Levinson.

Visual: In 2009, Levinson was honored at “Henryfest,” where former and current students and colleagues honored him.

He joined UNCG in March, succeeding Fred Patrick, who retired earlier in the year.

In some ways the campus and architecture remind Pearce of the University of Virginia in Charlottesville. “Classic and timeless,” he says, adding that newer styles have to fit. And at UNCG they do.

He notes that the UNCG campus is pedestrian-friendly and has nice, open expanses, compared to some other campuses. And you don’t feel the constrained hustle and bustle during class changes, he says.

“I have diverse experience,” he explains, in recounting his career so far. He has 10 years of supervisory experience in capital construction. How did he get his start? After graduating from NC State University with an engineering degree, he worked there before joining Cape Fear Community College. He is a registered professional engineer, a LEED accredited professional, and a member of the Innovations Committee of the NC State Building Commission.

You need to learn to build things first, he advises people just starting their careers in design and construction. By doing that first, you have better understanding for maintenance and everything else.

Some things about him you may not know:

Pearce lived in Greensboro six months as a kid.

He loves deep sea fishing. “Nothing like being 70 miles off-shore.”

He grew up in rural Johnston County. After spending years in North Carolina cities, he has a deeper appreciation for our state’s countryside, the quiet, the nighttime stars.

He enjoys sports and looks forward to the heart of the fall and spring Spartan sports seasons.

He is an engineer, with one eye on how to build it and another on how to maintain it.

“Everything is a problem,” he says, in a very positive manner. “I like to solve problems.”

He is here to help, as is his department, he explains. He know it’s a big responsibility – and an honor to play a big role in the campus’ current and future appearance.